CIMMYT Senior Cropping Systems Agronomist Christian Thierfelder presented on climate-smart agriculture in southern Africa in a webinar titled Climate Resilient Agriculture Success Stories – Making a Case for Scale Up.

1. Transforming Maize-legume Value Chains –
A Business Case for Climate-Smart
Agriculture in Southern Africa
By Christian Thierfelder

2. What is CIMMYT (the International
Maize and Wheat Improvement Center)
• Mission: Maize and wheat science for improved
livelihoods
• > 200 International Scientists
• > 1500 Staff
• HQ in Mexico, 15 regional offices
• Budget: 150 million USD

3. Projected change in Agriculture Productivity, 2080
Source: Hugo Ahlenius, UNEP/GRID-Arendal.

4. Traditional African smallholder farming
systems
• Based on tillage
(manual/animal traction)
• Residue removal
• Monocropping of maize
• Limited fertilizer use
• Based on traditional
varieties
• Affected by variable climate
• Inherently poor soil fertility

5. The Consequences
Source: Sonder, unpublished

6. Agroforestry
Nutrition security
Poverty alleviation
Natural resource
management
Improved
cook-stove
Conservation
agriculture
Increased yields
Soil quality & carbon
Reduced
degradation &
erosion
Dietary
diversity
Intercropping
Market access
Increase income
Participatory
approach
Landscapes with multiple
CSA options

7. Out scaling climate-smart technologies to
smallholder farmers in Malawi, Zambia & Zimbabwe
• Undertake a climate change
Vulnerability Assessment
• Piloting CSA technologies on-farm
• Prioritization of CSA technologies
• Feasibility study
• Development of out-scaling
Proposals for CSA scaling
Adaptation to Climate Change for Smallholder Rural
Areas (ACCRA) Project funded by GIZ/CCARDESA

8. Vulnerability assessment - process
Vulnerability status of communities
Rural assessment
Definition of adaptation
practices (Proactive/
Reactive) to impacts
Assessment of
risks/impacts of
climate hazards
Identification of
climate hazards

9. Piloting in CSA in on-farm communities of
Southern Africa

10. Maize-legume rotation under CA with Pigeonpea Alley Cropping

11. Prioritization of CSA technologies
Process:
• Local meetings with key
stakeholder in target communities
• Regional meeting in Lusaka using
the GIZ tool
• Ranking based on a ranking matrix
Southern MAL
Adaptation option
Effective
ness
Cost
Feasibility
for Farmers
Political/
social
acceptance
Relative
speed to
benefit
No regret
potential
Alignement
to donor
support
Alignement
with Policy
Sum of
score
Rank
weighted
rank
Mitigation
co-benefit
Gender
Sensitivity
InterCropping 5 3 5 5 4 4 5 5 36 4.50 4.35 + +
Crop Diversification 5 3 4 5 4 5 5 5 36 4.50 4.25 0 +
DT Vars 5 2 3 4 5 4 5 5 33 4.13 3.85 0 0
CA 4 3 4 4 2 4 5 5 31 3.88 3.6 0 +
Organic Manure 4 3 3 4 4 4 2 5 29 3.63 3.55 - 0
Supplementary Irrigation 5 1 2 4 5 5 5 5 32 4.00 3.55 0 0
Cap Building 4 1 5 4 1 3 5 5 28 3.50 3.15 0 +
IPM 3 1 2 3 4 4 3 4 24 3.00 2.7 0 0
Agro Met Info Sharing 2 1 4 4 2 2 4 5 24 3.00 2.55 0 0
Small livestock production 4 1 1 4 3 2 4 4 23 2.88 2.45 - +
Rainwater Harvest 4 1 2 2 3 3 1 3 19 2.38 2.45 0 -
Policy Implement 2 1 2 3 1 2 5 5 21 2.63 2 0 0

12. Agronomic performance
Economic viability
Environmental impact
Social impact (gender)
A Feasibility Study on Climate-Smart
Agriculture Systems
For an investment proposal we
need data on:

13. •Basin planting
•Jab-planter
•AT Direct seeder
•Dibble stick
•Hoe-planter
•Magoye ripper
Conservation agriculture – a CSA system

14. Maize-soybean rotation
Groundnuts under CA
Maize-Gliricidia intercropping
Cowpeas under CA
Maize under CA
Maize-groundnut rotation

15. Why focus on Conservation Agriculture?
 Combines all positive technologies
prioritized above
 CA can help to adapt
production to climate variability
and change ….!
 CA is more water-, nutrient-,
and energy-use-efficient
 CA improves the productivity of
current farming systems
 Availability of long-term data to
do the study

16. MaizeGrainyield(kgha-1
)
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
a
Chibgukuwe Chipeni Mwansambo Zidyana Herbert Lemu
Central Malawi Southern Malawi
ab
b
b a
a
a
a
a
a
a
b
b
b
b ab
ab
Malula Matandika Songani
a
a a a
a
a
ab
a a
Conventional ridge tillage Mz-leg rotation
CA-Direct seeding Mz-leg rotation
CA Direct seeding Mz/int-leg rotation
Productivity benefits – On-farm pilots in
Malawi, 2019

18. Maizegrainyield(kgha
-1
)
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
11000
12000
b
a
a
b
a
a a
b
a a
b
a
a
b
a ab
C
R
T,m
aize-rot
D
iS,m
aize/legum
e-rot
D
iS,m
aize-rot
C
R
T,m
aize-rot
D
iS,m
aize/legum
e-rot
D
iS,m
aize-rot
C
P,m
aize
D
iS,m
aize/legum
e
intercrop
D
iS,m
aize
D
iS,m
aize-rot
C
P,m
aize
R
I,m
aize-rot
R
I,m
aize
C
P,m
aize-rot
D
S,m
aize-rot
R
I,m
aize-rot
Central Malawi
(manual)
South Malawi
(manual)
Eastern Zambia
(manual)
Eastern Zambia
(animal traction)
Southern Zimbabwe
(animal traction)
Southern Zambia
(animal traction)
b
a
c
D
S,m
aize-rot
C
P,m
aize-rot
D
S,m
aize-rot
Productivity benefits – long-term

19. Conventional tillage yield (kg ha-1
)
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
Conservationagriculturetreatmentyield(kgha-1
)
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
1:2line
1:1
line
Planting basins, Mozambique
Ripline seeding, Zambia
Manual direct seeding, Mozambique
Direct seeding, Zambia
Manual direct seeding, Malawi
Manual direct seeding, intercrop., Malawi
Ripline seeding, Zimbabwe
Direct seeding Zimbabwe
Thierfelder et al. 2015a
Regional yield response to CA in
southern Africa from 2005-2016

20. 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
Ridge & furrow
Maize continuous
Dibble stick Maize
continuous
Dibble stick-
Maize/Cowpea intercrop
Dibble stick-
Maize -Cowpea rot
lowrainfall&mediumelevation
2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016
Net benefits (in USD)
Manual Sustainable Intensification Practices -
Net Benefits (2012-2016), Eastern Zambia
Mutenje et al. 2016

21. Region Community CSA NPV1
12%
NPV2
30%
ROL
$
ROI
$
Payback IRR %
Eastern Zambia Vuu Conventional maize 251.97 172.99 1.1 7.6 1.4 69
CA sole maize 685.47 548.12 2.2 18.7 0.5 102
CA maize-cowpea intercrop 777.83 613.24 2.4 20.5 0.5 97
CA maize -cowpea rotation 673.38 534.05 2.3 20.9 0.6 99
Eastern Zambia Hoya Conventional maize 277.72 221.95 0.9 6.5 2.2 82
Ripper CA, sole maize 500.50 380.97 1.6 14.1 0.8 87
Ripper CA maize-soy rotation 620.24 460.35 2.0 17.8 0.6 102
NPV – Net present value
RoL – Returns to labour
RoI – Returns to Investment
IRR - Internal Rate of Return
Economic benefits – Eastern Zambia

22. CP-maize CA-maize CA-maize/legume
Labourdays
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
2nd Weeding
Land clearing
Ridging
Sowing
Mulch appl.
Basal fertilizer appl.
Herbicide appl.
1st Weeding
3rd Weeding
Top dressing
Harvesting
Thierfelder et al. 2015b
Labour reduction – a key benefit!

23. Time (min)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
Infiltration(mmh-1
)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
Conventional ploughing (CP)
Rip-line seeded (RI)
Direct seeding (DS)
Rip-line seeded + leg intercrop (RI+ leg)
Basin planting (BA)
a)
Time (min)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
Infiltration(mmh-1)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
Direct seeding, maize-cotton
Conventional ploughing, maize
Direct seeding, maize-cotton-sunnhemp
Direct seeding, maize
b)
Environmental benefits – improved
Water Infiltration

24. Conventional ploughing, maize (CP-M)
CA-Direct seeding, maize (DS-M)
CA-Basin planting, maize (BA-M)
Rainfall
FC
50% avail. moist.
PWP
Date
10/11/1415/12/1419/01/1523/02/1530/03/1504/05/1508/06/1513/07/1517/08/1521/09/1526/10/1530/11/1504/01/1608/02/1614/03/1618/04/1623/05/1627/06/1601/08/1605/09/1610/10/1614/11/1619/12/1623/01/1727/02/1703/04/1708/05/17
Rainfall(mmd-1)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Availablesoilmoisture(inmm)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
190
200
210
220
Environmental benefits – increased
Soil Moisture

25. Year
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Rainfall(mma-1
)
0
300
600
900
1200
1500
1800
Soilerosion(intha-1
)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
Rainfall
Conventional ploughing (CP)
Direct seeding (DS)
Ripline seeding + legume intercrop (RSL)
Environmental benefit – reduced
Soil Erosion

26. Year
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Totalcarbon(Mgha-1
)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
Conventional ploughing, maize
CA- direct seeding, maize
CA- direct seeding, cotton-maize
a
a
a
b
a
ab
b
a
a
b)
Environmental benefit – gradual increase in
soil carbon

28. Some pertinent challenges ...
Residues: How can we feed both livestock and crops?
Weeds and their control – a major challenge if no
herbicides are used
 Lack of fertilizer use – what are the alternatives?
 Limited crop diversification – too much focus on maize
 Lack of evidence and data taking – believe in myths

29. Targeting the wrong systems to the wrong farmers
 Donor driven adoption - one-size fits-all approaches
 Low adoption – lack of understanding of underlying
issues
 Ignoring farmers rationale and decision making
 The need for new knowledge and co-development
of technologies

30. Scaling is more than the technology

31. We are ready…….!
Project results have been summarized in 4
project reports in contemporary design –
This is our Business Case!

32. We are ready…….!
A regional proposal has been developed for southern
Africa and will be presented at a COP25 side event:
• Work package 1: Scaling out Climate-Smart Agriculture
• Work Package 2: Knowledge generation and
dissemination
• Work Package 3: Aligning policies
We depend on Country Support

33. YES
we
CAN!